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Lardy Force Fetch

Ok I am going to be giving the TRT program a try on my pup and will be starting FF in a few weeks after his adult teeth are fully in. My main question is that in the video Mike does force from the ground, when I forced my older dog we stated on the table then to the ground. Can I start on the table or is it better to work from the ground?

I always felt like I could get more on thier level and have better control from the table. I've tried the ground, a tailgate, a couple different tables, then a buddy built the nicest table you've EVER seen! Its the perfect height and allows me to really see how they are feeling/reacting. I think that is a HUGE deal!

Reciting the Mike Lardy articles is easy. Mike Lardy says tables make it easier for Professional trainers but, they are not neccessary. Mike Lardy says it will take you more time to build a table than to just FF the dog. Mike Lardy says all you need is a bumper, choke chain, lead.

Reciting the Mike Lardy articles is easy. Mike Lardy says tables make it easier for Professional trainers but, they are not neccessary. Mike Lardy says it will take you more time to build a table than to just FF the dog. Mike Lardy says all you need is a bumper, choke chain, lead.

Very much true...on a counter point, if you like to build crap, they make very nice benches/worktables...

My plan is to work on hold and ff on the table then move to the ground for walking fetch and stick fetch. Is that a practical plan or should I deviate from it somehow?

When you move to the ground your dog won't know what force fetch means in the different situation. Start at square one again as if you are starting ff all over again. He'll pick it up this 2nd time quicker than he did the first time but there will be a learning time for him to "get it" once he's on the ground. When he's got it on the ground you can go ahead to walking fetch, stick fetch, baseball, pile work, and to the rest of basics.

Howard NiemiYou really gotta be careful about how high a pedestal you put your method, your accomplishments, your dog on. There's usually someone who's done more, somewhere. And they may have used a different method than you did! Chris Atkinson 2013

You can do ff on a table and move to the ground. My sequence is force hold on the table until he holds for three minutes. Then move to the ground and do ob with bumper in the dogs mouth. When he is good with this then back up on the table to do force fetch.

Sometimes it happens the way Howard said and sometimes it doesn't. Rowdy never missed a beat when he went to the ground.